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Tuesday, August 23, 2005

I got your New World Order right here...

So let me see if I've got this straight... You need a SWAT team, helicopters, dogs [and possibly the National Guard] to bust some dumb kids at a rave where some of the people where engaging in illegal behavior?

--On August 20th, 2005, a promoter named Nick Mari threw an outdoor party called "Versus 2" in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah. He went to great lengths to make sure his event was legit. He applied for and aquired permits... The event was held on the private property of Trudy and Yancy Childs... Security was hired for the event, along with off-duty EMT personnel to handle any possible situations. Security was tasked with searching cars as they came in, along with any suspicious people, to prevent drugs and weapons from being brought to the show. (These last two measures are required for a permit.) A two million dollar insurance policy was bought, to protect the concergoers. An attorney was present at the event, to insure that it would 'go off without a hitch'. 3,000 people were expected to attend.

...Utah Police, or, more specifically, 90 of them from multiple agencies, possibly including National Guard, along with a helicopter (maybe two) and numerous police dogs, had raided the event.

..."As this was going on, I watched my friend filming people getting the shit beat out of them as he walked towards the parking lot (this is the footage that was shown on all the news stations). Two cops then proceeded to knock his camera to the ground and literally body slammed him into the dirt. All for doing nothing but filming as he was walking away."

...instances cited straight out of the promoters mouth..

... One of the promoters friends (a very small female) was attacked by one of the police dogs. As she struggled to get away from it, the police tackled her. 3 grown men proceeded to KICK HER IN THE STOMACH.

...Utah Police issued a statement listing reasons for the raid, including that the party, while having a health department permit, did not have a county permit in order to operate. However, the statute reads like so:

13-4-2-1. Required.

No person shall permit, maintain, promote, conduct, advertise, act as entrepreneur, undertake, organize, manage, or sell or give tickets to an actual or reasonably anticipated assembly of two hundred fifty or more people which continues or can reasonably be expected to continue for twelve (12) or more consecutive hours, whether on public or private property unless a license to hold the assembly has first been issued by the County Commissioners.

Unfortunately, to get the license, one must first contract Porta-potties, dumpsters, medical professionals, etc. All of which comes under "promote, conduct, advertise, act as entrepreneur, undertake, organize, manage." clause. So in order to get a permit under the ordinance, you must first violate the ordinance. Also of note here is that in order to satisfy the need for this permit, the event must have more than 250 people AND continue for more than 12 consecutive hours, meaning that said permit would not be required if the number of people dropped to below 250 by 10AM Sunday morning. Again, the raid occurred at 11:30 PM Saturday. - more than 10 hours before the deadline.